Gobi Desert: day3

21.10.11

9am once again we left our nice ger for our final destination Bayanzag (flaming cliffs).

On the way some more shamanic posts and locals with motorbikes.

With ambition to ride camels to the sunset, we carried our way to the next and at this time, last ger camp. This one featured even a shower (with no water of course).

Outdoor cook site

Banged up ger door

Tumee Khan and the guide from another group relaxing at our ger

Once again we settled to the new place and around us opened yet a different view. In the distance we could see a huge Turtle-shaped structure, which was later confirmed by Vladka to be a tourist camp dining hall. Also the flaming cliffs were visible in the horizon. We’d drop by them on our way back, as now it was time for some camel riding action, finally! The camel I rode to the sunset 🙂

Riding a camel was almost like sitting on a sofa (even though not very comfortable one). I’d imagine it is much more comfortable than a horse to say the least. The camels were roaming free in a distance from the camp and once we agreed on the price, a ger owner rode a motorcycle to herd them to us. Once saddled and leashed up (the camels have a bone nose piercing that a simple rope is attached to), we were good to go!

Photo by Greg

Riders in the sun

We “rode” the camels around one hour, actually Tumee and the herder both held the leash of one group and the group members would hold the next one’s leash, so we were traveling pretty tightly packed. Luckily we were used to it by now. The camel breath, btw, smelled like a bag of assholes as Greg the poet would put it.

I accidentally pulled down on the leash, resulting in the camel sitting down. After that I quickly got hang of this pretty simple interface: tug down = sit, tug up = get up, tug forwards = move, tug backwards = stop, tug left = turn left, tug right = turn right. The language I spoke to it didn’t seem to matter at all. After this picture was taken, I managed to get up and ride 20 or so meters to the pit-stop and sit down, all by myself! ^^

photo by Tumee Khan

The gang

It was time for the mighty soup! (all the leftovers mixed together) Dessert was Vodka and beer, appropriate for the last night in Gobi.